Air Canada flight attendants down to wire

TORONTO — Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said Monday she was prepared to table a back-to-work bill for Air Canada’s flight attendants if they fail to reach a new labour agreement. But the legislation is unlikely to come in time to completely avert a work disruption if the flight attendants fail to secure a deal and walk off the job by their strike deadline at just after midnight Wednesday morning.

Talks between Air Canada’s management and the Air Canada Component of CUPE, which represents 6,800 flight attendants at the airline, continued through the weekend and around the clock Monday in Montreal. But with no deal forthcoming, both sides were hauled before Ms. Raitt in the afternoon to try to hammer out a process by which a new deal could be achieved.

Ms. Raitt told reporters afterward that the parties were ‘close’ to a deal. But that if they failed to do reach one, and a strike were to occur, she was prepared introduce back-to-work legislation in the House as early as Wednesday, just hours after strike is slated to begin.

“If there is a work stoppage, we will act to protect Canada’s economy,” Ms. Raitt said during Question Period Monday.

The flight attendants rejected a preliminary deal with the airline last month, saying it fell short on wage, benefit and pension issues after 10 years of concessions from them. CUPE served strike notice Friday, saying its members would be prepared to walk off the job as early as 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday morning if a new deal is not met.

The back-to-work legislation is expected to be similar to the bills Ms. Raitt tabled in June to halt a strike at both Canada Post and at Air Canada, when 3,800 of its sales and service agents , represented by the CAW, walked off the job.

Ms. Raitt tabled a back-to-work bill in Parliament just two days into the CAW strike, saying at the time the federal government would not tolerate any disruption to the travelling public or the broader economy as a result of the strike. The legislation would have forced the parties into final offer arbitration, where the final offers of both the airline and the union would be presented and either the airline’s or the union’s would be accepted in its entirety.

But before that bill could be enacted, the CAW and the airline reached a negotiated settlement, putting their most contentious issue of moving new hires into a different pension plan before an arbitrator.

Air Canada said its talks with the union were progressing.

“We are close and committed to reaching a negotiated agreement which is preferable to back-to-work legislation,” the airline said in a statement. “We’ve shown we can negotiate settlements and Parliament should be left to running the country.”

Ms. Raitt has to give 48 hours’ notice of her intention to table a back-to-work bill to head off a strike by the flight attendants. She would also need to serve notice of a motion to allow for the matter to be dealt with in one sitting in the House of Commons.

Both the motion and the notice would have to be served Monday if the government wanted to deal with the matter Wednesday, which would mean those travelling on the day of the walk-out would still be impacted by the strike.

Yvon Godin, the federal NDP labour critic, said his party would oppose a back-to-work bill. But the Opposition has yet to determine whether it would conduct a filibuster akin to the one it held when the federal government tried to pass a similar bill forcing striking Canada Post workers back to work in June, he said.

It is expected the Tories might also put a time limit on the debate this time around to prevent another filibuster, a government source said.

Air Canada was able to minimize the impact the CAW strike on the travelling public by bringing in managers and replacement workers to do front-line tasks.

It also consolidated a number of its flights to space out the number of check-ins in order to reduce lineups at its gates, and also eliminated time-consuming tasks, like collecting fees for a second bag.

A flight attendant strike is expected to have been much more disruptive.

Air Canada is believed to have been putting replacement workers through a condensed training program in preparation for a strike, and is expected to reduce the number of duties they will perform. The airline is also expected to lean on its regional and international partners for help, and the plan has been approved and will be monitored by Transport Canada.

“Air Canada will implement a partial schedule including code share flights operated by its partner airlines,” the company said in a statement on its website. “The airline will provide further updates as developments warrant.”

Chris Murray, a PI Financial Corp. analyst, said he expects the federal government to enact a back-to-work bill as quickly as possible in the event of a strike. Under federal regulations, Air Canada is required to have a certain number of trained flight attendants per flight, and it is unlikely they would be able to meet those standards with replacement workers and managers, he said. While the airline may lean on its partners for support, he said he expects a flight attendant strike to be disruptive, and has clearly already become a priority for Ottawa.

“If Air Canada shuts down, it’s going to be highly disruptive to the country. It’s not even just getting people around. It’s getting the important cargo they carry,” he said. “Air Canada is very entwined in keeping commerce going across the country. You really can’t shut that down. Any strike would be short-lived.”